Two New Dual THX Monolith Subs BIG Bada Boom!

[WookieGR]

I've DIY'd a couple of subs years ago. Price went up and still came out worse while exceeding the cost of some of these recent manufacturer direct offerings. There is a difference between diy'ing for fun and getting something from some of these guys who stay competitive in market.

I can say without any doubt that the Twin Odin subs I built for my home theater far exceed the performance at a percentage of the price. Since I hid them behind my theater screen it was all performance and less concern about their aesthetics.

 

[shadyJ]

Are you referring to the advertising friendly flat response curves on exhibit from the manufacturer? When you put the sub in a room, you are measuring a roller coaster anyways until you go to town with EQ, treatment, whatever.

Hmm, you also seem to overlook the advantages of a force balanced dual opposed design.

You may get around to measuring the G22 at some point in the future and doing a comparison against the Monoprice with the measurements in hand?

To be sure, there are no performance benefits of a dual opposed design. The benefits come in reducing rocking motion of the enclosure, however, that is not the only way to reduce rocking motion. It is nice to be able to place things on the sub without worry of them vibrating off, so I do like dual opposed designs.

I doubt that I will have the opportunity to measure a Rythmik sub. I don't think they would send me one. Someone would have to ship me one, and that would be expensive.

 

[MalVeauX]

I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw the double stacked 12's. Ugh. Man I bet they're monstrous. Pricey but cheaper than some other commercial options.

Any thoughts on the double 12 there vs something like a MiniMarty of Full Marty?

Very best,

 

[Pogre]

Monolith's M-215 for $2300 and Rhythmik's FV25HP for almost $3300 are a lot more apples to apples if we really wanna compare...

 

[shadyJ]

Monolith's M-215 for $2300 and Rhythmik's FV25HP for almost $3300 are a lot more apples to apples if we really wanna compare...

Interesting to compare the two. The FV25HP has more mid-bass output, as I would have expected from its more sensitive drivers. It also has more infrasonic output below 16Hz since its tuned deeper. In general, the M215 does surpass it in deep bass at 40Hz and below. The M215 also has lower distortion at high output levels, but the distortion of either one is too low to matter.

 

[Pogre]

Interesting to compare the two. The FV25HP has more mid-bass output, as I would have expected from its more sensitive drivers. It also has more infrasonic output below 16Hz since its tuned deeper. In general, the M215 does surpass it in deep bass at 40Hz and below. The M215 also has lower distortion at high output levels, but the distortion of either one is too low to matter.

They're both good subs, no doubt, but one of them costs $1000 more than the other.

 

[Danzilla31]

They're both good subs, no doubt, but one of them costs $1000 more than the other.

The Rythmik didn't use too but the price increases over the last 2 years really drove it up in price

 

[Pogre]

The Rythmik didn't use too but the price increases over the last 2 years really drove it up in price

Which brings us full circle back to Het's comment about incredible value and why lopsided disingenuous Rhythmik comparison was brought up at all. Compared to Rhythmik's offerings I think he was on the money. The M-215 goes on sale every other month for $1900. That's $1400 less than the comparable FV25HP!

So at sale prices I'd say I agree with Het. Monoprice's subs are an incredible value.

 

[ryanosaur]

One important item to not overlook is that Brian's/Rythmik's product has not seen much in the way of new development. I've seen some small revisions to port design/tuning, but the Drivers and Amps are largely unchanged.
This is both good and bad.
The good is why Rythmik is still discussed: they crushed what they were doing.
The bad, perhaps, is that they are looking at getting lapped by modern design techniques as evidenced by the Monoliths and how they compare and contrast. There are a lot of similarities in their general performance characteristics. It's just that one is relying on 10-15 yr old design and technology, and the other is unleashing new product with a vengeance; new product that competes with some swagger!

I do hope Brian/Rythmik has some new tricks up his/their sleeve.

 

[Hetfield]

I don't understand what's so hard to see here. Massive dual driver subs for under 2 grand? I mean are we serious here? What are 2 15 inch subs from SVS going for? How is this not value?

 

[Danzilla31]

I don't understand what's so hard to see here. Massive dual driver subs for under 2 grand? I mean are we serious here? What are 2 15 inch subs from SVS going for? How is this not value?

I agree and a lot of others do as well bang for buck value it's hard to top monoprice right now. Color me impressed they've come a long way from making cheap cables

 

[Pogre]

One important item to not overlook is that Brian's/Rythmik's product has not seen much in the way of new development. I've seen some small revisions to port design/tuning, but the Drivers and Amps are largely unchanged.
This is both good and bad.
The good is why Rythmik is still discussed: they crushed what they were doing.
The bad, perhaps, is that they are looking at getting lapped by modern design techniques as evidenced by the Monoliths and how they compare and contrast. There are a lot of similarities in their general performance characteristics. It's just that one is relying on 10-15 yr old design and technology, and the other is unleashing new product with a vengeance; new product that competes with some swagger!

I do hope Brian/Rythmik has some new tricks up his/their sleeve.

That is another perspective too. The much vaunted servo tech appears to have been equaled, if not eclipsed with new design and newer, higher performing drivers. Rhythmik had a good thing going for a long time, and still do, but they're stagnating and raising prices while being passed up by the competition.

I would have no problem owning a Rhythmik but I've always thought the servo tech was more hype and they've always been a little bit overpriced imo. I really like what Monolith has been doing lately. If I were buying subs again they'd be on my short, short list.

 

[Danzilla31]

One important item to not overlook is that Brian's/Rythmik's product has not seen much in the way of new development. I've seen some small revisions to port design/tuning, but the Drivers and Amps are largely unchanged.
This is both good and bad.
The good is why Rythmik is still discussed: they crushed what they were doing.
The bad, perhaps, is that they are looking at getting lapped by modern design techniques as evidenced by the Monoliths and how they compare and contrast. There are a lot of similarities in their general performance characteristics. It's just that one is relying on 10-15 yr old design and technology, and the other is unleashing new product with a vengeance; new product that competes with some swagger!

I do hope Brian/Rythmik has some new tricks up his/their sleeve.

I agree its just this would be a tough time to put anything new out on the market right now for smaller companies with everything going on. Maybe they have stuff in the works but are just being forced to wait till the economy looks better.

 

[Danzilla31]

That is another perspective too. The much vaunted servo tech appears to have been equaled, if not eclipsed with new design and newer, higher performing drivers. Rhythmik had a good thing going for a long time, and still do, but they're stagnating and raising prices while being passed up by the competition.

I would have no problem owning a Rhythmik but I've always thought the servo tech was more hype and they've always been a little bit overpriced imo. I really like what Monolith has been doing lately. If I were buying subs again they'd be on my short, short list.

Yeah good point still Rythmik deserves credit for there subs still being so good 15 years later hopefully when things calm down in the world they can bring out some new gear the more players in the industry the better for us consumers!

 

[Danzilla31]

H

I don't understand what's so hard to see here. Massive dual driver subs for under 2 grand? I mean are we serious here? What are 2 15 inch subs from SVS going for? How is this not value?

Honestly the Mono 16 destroys the PB 16 ultra in performance the Ultra has some amazing features though

 

[Kleinst]

Is there anything about these newer models that differs from the M215? or are they just smaller sizes of the same?

There have been noted issues with their amps at times. But I didn't have trouble.

 

[Schrodinger23]

I own a pair of Rythmik FV15HP’s for my theater room. I love them they are great, but in my living room where I do gaming and casual tv viewing I didn’t want something so large, since my wife wouldn’t like having massive subs in the living room.

I was excited when seeing this preview article thinking these monolith subs might be just what I was looking for. I thought with the smaller drivers they might have a smaller footprint and that the price might be good for the output levels, since up to this price Monoprice has seemed to appear unaffected by the supply chain issues and inflation.

Then I looked at the dimensions of these subs. They have roughly the same base dimensions as my FV15HPS, but are quite a bit taller. Not only that they are a lot heavier. Then I looked at output and the FV15HP has similar output on the upper end and infrasonics, but more output in the lower audible bass region. Oh and the FV15HP is about the same price as the M212.

I guess the search continues.

 

[Pogre]

I own a pair of Rythmik FV15HP’s for my theater room. I love them they are great, but in my living room where I do gaming and casual tv viewing I didn’t want something so large, since my wife wouldn’t like having massive subs in the living room.

I was excited when seeing this preview article thinking these monolith subs might be just what I was looking for. I thought with the smaller drivers they might have a smaller footprint and that the price might be good for the output levels, since up to this price Monoprice has seemed to appear unaffected by the supply chain issues and inflation.

Then I looked at the dimensions of these subs. They have roughly the same base dimensions as my FV15HPS, but are quite a bit taller. Not only that they are a lot heavier. Then I looked at output and the FV15HP has similar output on the upper end and infrasonics, but more output in the lower audible bass region. Oh and the FV15HP is about the same price as the M212.

I guess the search continues.

Good subs just don't come in small packages.

 

[haraldo]

 

[haraldo]

None of these "big guys" are yet to be found in the Monprice EU shop

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